Where Do New Ideas (About Class) Come From?

2000 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 53-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Weinstein
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
American Labor

In my comment I raise two main questions about the Eley/Nield essay. First, I express some doubts about whether the issues discussed in their essay can be unproblematically transposed to historiographical debates in areas beyond Western Europe and North America. Certain themes, such as the need to reemphasize the political, are hardly pressing given the continual emphasis on politics and the state in Latin American labor history. Closely related to this, I question whether the state of gender studies within labor history can be used, in the way these authors seem to be doing, as a barometer of the sophistication and vitality of labor and working-class history. Despite recognizing the tremendous contribution of gendered approaches to labor history, I express doubts about its ability to help us rethink the category of class, and even express some concern that it might occlude careful consideration of class identities. Instead, pointing to two pathbreaking works in Latin American labor history, I argue that the types of questions we ask about class, and primarily about class, can provide the key to innovative scholarship about workers even if questions such as gender or ethnicity go unexamined. Finally, I point out that class will only be a vital category of analysis if it is recognized not simply as “useful,” but as forming a basis for genuinely creative and innovative historical studies.

The Politics of Proletarianization: A Review Article

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Michael Hanagan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Review Article ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Studies ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
Political Conditions

The process of proletarianization and its role in the shaping of working class consciousness has captured the attention of French social historians over the last ten years. Until recently, works on French labor history generally neglected the formation of the working class to concentrate on the origins of national working-class parties or trade unions; thus, general histories of the political ‘workers’ movement' abound, to the detriment of occupational or regional studies. As early as 1971, Rolande Trempé's thèse asserted that the transition from godfearing peasant to socialistic proletarian had only just begun when a man put down his hoe and took up a pickaxe. In Les mineurs de Carmaux, Trempé showed the evolving social and political conditions which led coalminers in southwestern France to espouse trade unionism and socialism. The recently published thése of Yves Lequin, Les ouvriers de la region lyonnaise, provides another benchmark in the study of nineteenth-century working class history. Lequin reveals that, for the pre-1914 period in the Lyonnais region of France, the dynamics of proletarianization were more important in promoting worker militancy than its end result, the appearance of an industrial proletariat.

Materials for the Study of Labor and Working Class History in Italy

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Kenneth Kirkland
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Labor History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The subject suggested in the title is so broad as to make it rather difficult to decide what boundaries to draw around the study of various resources available to the historian or other social scientist who sets out to study labor history, the social history of Italian workers and peasants, and the political and intellectual history of socialism and other radical movements. Keeping in mind that the following discussion is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather an indication of the necessary starting point to begin an investigation is probably the best way to understand this note.

scholarly journals Islam as a Civilizational Threat: Constitutional Identity, Militant Democracy, and Judicial Review in Western Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 1228-1256
Author(s):  
Malthe Hilal-Harvald
Keyword(s):  
Judicial Review ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Imminent Threat ◽  
Constitutional Identity

AbstractMultiple laws and regulations in Western Europe have been enacted on the premise that headscarves and face veils constitute an existential threat to the constitutional identity of the respective legal systems. Thus, the logic of militant democracy as a justification for restricting fundamental rights have been applied in order to restrict the freedom to manifest one’s religion. Yet, the politicymakers claiming to defend the constitutional identity through militant democracy have not been able to prove the existence of a concrete, imminent threat against the state from the women who wear headscarves or face veils. Nonetheless, the European judiciaries have taken the political claim at face value and allowed the restrictions without compelling the political decision-makers to provide substantive justifications. Thus, the cases of headscarves and face veils offer a prism, through which we can study fundamental paradoxes of liberal democracy and constitutionalism.

Materials for the Study of Labor and Working Class History in Italy

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 16-19
Author(s):  
Kenneth Kirkland
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Social History ◽  
Social Scientist ◽  
Labor History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Social ◽  
Working Class History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The subject suggested in the title is so broad as to make it rather difficult to decide what boundaries to draw around the study of various resources available to the historian or other social scientist who sets out to study labor history, the social history of Italian workers and peasants, and the political and intellectual history of socialism and other radical movements. Keeping in mind that the following discussion is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather an indication of the necessary starting point to begin an investigation is probably the best way to understand this note.

North Electricity Board: A Case of Restructuring in the Indian Power Industry

2002 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 27-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjula Gurtoo
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
State Government ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Labor History ◽  
Electric Utility ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
The Government

The State Government of one of the largest states of India restructured its financially unviable electric utility - North Electricity Board (NEB) - into three independent corporations and announced its plans for subsequent privatization of NEB. The State Government argued for initiation of restructuring and privatization as a move to attract capital investments for meeting the growing demand and make the entire operations financially viable. An 11-day strike by the employees, which occurred as a response to the initiation of this radical organizational change, was the largest ever in the last 25 years of Indian labor history. The employees united under one umbrella employees association and negotiated with the government. Despite nation-wide support for the employees and the wholehearted unification of the employees, the strike ended with the acceptance of trifurcation by their union leaders. The dynamics involved in the process of restructuring and the employees' strike highlight the political and economic motivations of the various stakeholders in this organizational change process. In view of this, the issue facing the organization, post-strike, is how to get out of this current unpleasant situation and move forward.

scholarly journals Enviromental factors as the elements determing the development of floating homes

2021 ◽  
pp. 41-51
Author(s):  
Emilia MISZEWSKA ◽  
Maciej NIEDOSTATKIEWICZ ◽  
Radosław WIŚNIEWSKI
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
North America ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The State ◽  
Land Prices ◽  
The Impact

The popularity of Floating Homes in Western Europe and North America is noticeable. The interest in these facilities in Poland is also constantly growing. The popularity of Floating Homes is due to climate change, rising land prices and population density in city centers. However, environmental factors play a significant role in their development. The publication presents the results of research on the impact of environmental factors on the development of Floating Homes in Poland. As part of the research, the most important environmental factors were identified and then, using the State of the Surroundings Scenarios (SSS) method, an initial scenario of their development was developed. The most probable scenario was developed, the purpose of which was to identify the most favorable factors - strengths and unfavorable factors - weaknesses responsible for the development opportunities of Floating Homes in Poland. Additionally, a surprise scenario was prepared, which indicated factors that may unexpectedly accelerate the development of Floating Homes in Poland or slow it down.

scholarly journals Genesis and Development of A “Nonpartisan” Political Actor: The Formation of the Jama’ah Islah Malaysia (JIM) and its Roots in Western Europe

2009 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-90
Author(s):  
Sophie Lemiere
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Account ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
Muslim Students ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Studying Abroad ◽  
Malaysian Politics

This paper looks at the genesis and development of the Jama’ah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a modernist-reformist Islamist organisation that today has played a vital and visible role in the political landscape of Malaysian politics. Little is known about the early genesis of JIM, and how it began in the 1970s and 1980s as a student-based cadre organisation, created by Malaysian Muslim students studying abroad in Europe and North America. JIM’s roots therefore lie in the Islamic Representative Council (IRC) that was a semi-underground student-cadre movement that was created outside Malaysia, and which aimed to bring about the Islamisation of Malaysian society through the process of social and political mobilisation. Working through the archives of JIM today and interviewing the foundermembers of JIM and the IRC, this paper is the first historical account of the formation and development of IRC and JIM to be published.

Indigenous Political Representation in Latin America

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Rice
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Indigenous Movements

Indigenous peoples have become important social and political actors in contemporary Latin America. The politicization of ethnic identities in the region has divided analysts into those who view it as a threat to democratic stability versus those who welcome it as an opportunity to improve the quality of democracy. Throughout much of Latin America’s history, Indigenous peoples’ demands have been oppressed, ignored, and silenced. Latin American states did not just exclude Indigenous peoples’ interests; they were built in opposition to or even against them. The shift to democracy in the 1980s presented Indigenous groups with a dilemma: to participate in elections and submit themselves to the rules of a largely alien political system that had long served as an instrument of their domination or seek a measure of representation through social movements while putting pressure on the political system from the outside. In a handful of countries, most notably Bolivia and Ecuador, Indigenous movements have successfully overcome this tension by forming their own political parties and contesting elections on their own terms. The emergence of Indigenous peoples’ movements and parties has opened up new spaces for collective action and transformed the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the state. Indigenous movements have reinvigorated Latin America’s democracies. The political exclusion of Indigenous peoples, especially in countries with substantial Indigenous populations, has undoubtedly contributed to the weakness of party systems and the lack of accountability, representation, and responsiveness of democracies in the region. In Bolivia, the election of the country’s first Indigenous president, Evo Morales (2006–present) of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party, has resulted in new forms of political participation that are, at least in part, inspired by Indigenous traditions. A principal consequence of the broadening of the democratic process is that Indigenous activists are no longer forced to choose between party politics and social movements. Instead, participatory mechanisms allow civil society actors and their organizations to increasingly become a part of the state. New forms of civil society participation such as Indigenous self-rule broaden and deepen democracy by making it more inclusive and government more responsive and representative. Indigenous political representation is democratizing democracy in the region by pushing the limits of representative democracy in some of the most challenging socio-economic and institutional environments.

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